" 'He long delayed the trip to Babylon, proving in the meantime to be an unwise buyer and a
foolish spender. I finally put him out, but not before the business had deteriorated to where we had only
unsalable goods and no gold to buy other goods. I sacrificed what was left to an Israelite for a pitiful
sum.
" 'Soon there followed, I tell you, my father, bitter days. I sought employment and found it not,
for I was without trade or training that would enable me to earn. I sold my horses. I sold my slave. I
sold my extra robes that I might have food and a place to sleep, but each day grim want crouched
closer.
" 'But in those bitter days, I remembered thy confidence in me, my father. Thou hadst sent me
forth to become a man, and this I was determined to accomplish.' The mother buried her face and wept
softly. " 'At this time, I bethought me of the table thou had given to me upon which thou had carved the
five laws of gold. Thereupon, I read most carefully thy words of wisdom, and realized that had I but
sought wisdom first, my gold would not have been lost to me.
I learned by heart each law and determined that, when once more the goddess of good fortune
smiled upon me, I would be guided by the wisdom of age and not by the inexperience of youth.
" 'For the benefit of you who are seated here this night, I will read the wisdom of my father as
engraved upon the clay tablet which he gave to me ten years ago:
The First Law of Gold ....................................................................................................................
I. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than
one-tenth of his earngs to create an estate for his future and that of his family.
II. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable
employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
III. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of
men wise in its handling.
IV. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which
he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.
V. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the
alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic
desires in investment." 'These are the five laws of gold as written by my father. I do proclaim them as of greater value
than gold itself, as I will show by the continuance of my tale.'
"He again faced his father. 'I have told thee of the depth of poverty and despair to which my
inexperience brought me.
" 'However, there is no chain of disasters that will not come to an end. Mine came when I
secured employment managing a crew of slaves working upon the new outer wall of the city. "
'Profiting from my knowledge of the first law of gold, I saved a copper from my first earnings,
adding to it at every opportunity until I had a piece of silver. It was a slow procedure, for one must live.
I did spend grudgingly, I admit, because I was determined to earn back before the ten years were over
as much gold as you, my father, had given to me.
" 'One day the slave master, with whom I had become quite friendly, said to me: "Thou art a
thrifty youth who spends not wantonly what he earns. Hast thou gold put by that is not earning?" "
'Yes,' I replied, 'It is my greatest desire to accumulate gold to replace that which my father gave